J&K Police team in Mumbai on fact-finding mission

“The Mumbai Police did not file a missing report until I reached there on July 8”

With the Opposition parties — separatist as well mainstream — mounting pressure for a special investigation into Pervez Ahmad Teli’s death, the Omar Abdullah government on Tuesday deployed a two-member police team on a fact-finding mission in Mumbai.

The IPS officer of J&K cadre, who lives in Mumbai, has been asked to collect details of Teli’s movement and the circumstances that led to his death at the KEM Hospital on July 9.

A copy of the post-mortem report obtained by The Hindu describes “shock and haemorrhage as a result of injuries to vital organs (unnatural)” as the provisional cause of death. The autopsy was performed by S.J. Vosave and R.B. Deokar between 1655 hours and 1800 hours on July 9.

A communication from Mumbai Police to the J&K government reads: “On 9th July, 2013, one person aged about 36 years was hit by a Virar-bound down train. He was attempting to cross the tracks. The injured was immediately shifted to the KEM Hospital by Government Railway Police (GRP) with the help of porters. He was declared dead. After conducting panchnama, the body was sent for autopsy. An accidental death report (ADR) [was] registered at the Mumbai Control Railway Police Station, investigation was immediately started.”

It added that the records of the eyewitnesses (the motorman, guard, potters and GRP) have been recorded. The ADR’s investigation revealed that Teli had succumbed to his injuries due to the train accident.

He claimed that Teli reached Mumbai by a flight from Srinagar on July 2 and stayed with his cousins — Rehman Altaf and Wahid — at Meera Road till July 6 when he left, with Mr. Wahid, to board a Goa-bound bus near the car parking of Gokul Anand Hostel on July 6.

Teli and Mr. Wahid reached Gokul Anand’s parking lot at 1700 hours in Mr. Altaf’s car. Teli strolled to fetch a bottle of mineral water and some cigarettes. He did not return.

“Wahid reported my brother missing to the police the same night (July 6). They remained unmoved on July 6 and 7. They did not file a missing report until I reached there on July 8 and agitated the matter with the help of some influential Kashmiris like Feroz Pirzada. First the police officials claimed that Pervez [Teli] had not reached Gokul Anand. When I showed them the CCTV footage, they said ‘Keep it in a pen drive; we can call you if required.’ Had they launched a search, they would have told us on July 9 that he was dead. Why didn’t we know about his death till July 11?” Mr. Ahmad told The Hindu.

Displaying pictures, he claimed that there were “multiple torture marks all over the body.”

“Clearly, he was kidnapped and tortured to death. Had a train hit him, as the Mumbai Police claim, he would have been crushed beyond recognition,” Mr. Ahmad said.